young adult Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

I have to admit that I’m super excited about this week’s wishlist, because I’ve been working on it for absolutely ages! I don’t read half as much as I’d like to as I’m always busy sewing or blogging, but if I did, I would read ALL these books I have listed and many more. This week I wanted to show off some of the many Disney/Fairytale style books that I’ve come across over the last few months. Some I’d never heard of before and others being sequels to books I already own or have read.

Disney style books

Disney is one of my favourite topics ever but I love a good spin on it too. Nearly all of these books follow that idea and so hopefully if you’re the same, you’ll like the sound of a lot of these books.

Starting off with Poor Unfortunate Souls, this book has been on my wishlist for a while now. When we visited Florida last year I discovered Fairest of All and The Beast Within, both of which I regretted not buying. However for my birthday the following month, I was lucky enough to get bought both. This third book is about Ursula and honestly she is pretty much my Villain spirit animal. It’s not released yet but I would love to own this book and add it to my collection.

As Old as Time is a similar story, it’s pre-order and not released yet. However I’ve had my eye on Once Upon a Dream and A Whole New World (Chris just bought me this a few days ago) in hardback for a while (they just got released in paperback) and now spotted this Beauty and the Beast Twisted Tale coming out soon. I have yet to read any, but I plan to start AWNW this week!

The next couple of books, Unhooked and Never Never, are both Peter Pan/Hook themed books. They both appeal to me to read, though I’ve heard nothing about them other than reading the information on Amazon. There is one on the next line down called Wendy Darling (and its a Part 1 I believe) and this is the same sort of thing. They all just sound like good books. Finally on this line is a book called Fairest and its part of The Lunar Chronicles series. I currently own Cinder which is by the same author and while I haven’t read it yet, I’m told it’s really good.

On the middle line is a book called Once Again, its by the same as the Twisted Tales but I think it’s co-written. From what I can gather its two stories in one, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Since I mentioned Wendy Darling above, I’ll skip on to Kingdom Keepers. This is a series that I only recently discovered and have to admit I’m thoroughly enjoying. The first book, Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, I actually bought for Megan for her birthday, but Lily and I ended up reading as a bedtime story. Once we’d finished, I moved onto Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dawn. Since we only read one chapter a night, it does take quite some time to work our way through, however Lily was lucky enough to get bought the next 3-4 books for her birthday so we should have enough to keep us going for a while. This particular book I listed is a sort of spin-off series I believe, called Kingdom Keepers: The Return. Obviously we will be finishing our current series, before heading off into that one though.

Finally on the middle line is another book which I believe is co-written, by Riley Pearson (the author of The Kingdom Keepers) and Dave Barry. There are several books in this series too and again I haven’t read any of them, but given that they are by the author of The Kingdom Keepers, I would definitely give it a try.

Finally on the bottom row is a couple of cheeky additions. Return to the Isle of the Lost is a sequel book to The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel. All I really know of the Descendants is the Disney movie that was on TV last year, which I watched with the kids, but I did buy this book for Lily and we haven’t got around to reading it yet. Given that the first book is good, then we’d probably want the sequel too! My next cheeky addition is actually Once Upon a Time (OUAT) related and though there were several to choose from, this one is my top pick. OUAT isn’t technically Disney but it’s pretty damn close so any book connected to the series is something I want to read.

Finally that leaves three books which I only found today as I was searching for last minute additions. I honestly know nothing about the three picks but the blurbs appealed so I threw them on. Disneylanders and The Disneyland Quest, remind me somewhat of the Kingdom Keepers style book. The last one, is Fairy Godmother themed and is part of a series, some of which Megan owns but hasn’t read yet (The Snow Queen and The Sleeping Beauty). The series is called Five Hundred Kingdoms and from what I can gather, all the books can be read independently.

So these are some of my treasure finds but I’d love to know if you have any other suggestions!

…and the most embarrassing five minutes of fame!

I was sent this book for review but I want to make it clear that this book isn’t aimed at adults, it’s aimed at kids – specifically girls. As such, while I did read it, my daughter Megan (who is 10) also read it.

The most embarrassing dad in the world is back in this hilarious series for girls from TV and radio-comedy writing talent, Nigel Smith.

When Dad posts an embarrassing video of Nat online as a joke, she’s furious. Things are set to get much worse, however, when the video goes viral and she finds herself centre of the nation’s attention for all the wrong reasons – even the prime minister is imitating her!

But when a local care home for abandoned pets is threatened with closure, Dad convinces Nat to use her new-found celebrity to raise money for it – with him acting as her agent, of course! Cue: a disastrous appearance hair-modelling job, a not-so-glamorous campaign for a local optician and a call to turn on the town’s rubbish autumn illuminations (the one with the miserable face off The X-Factor cancelled at the last minute). And as if Nat didn’t have enough to deal with, school isn’t exactly easy when you’re a minor celebrity…

Its important to note that this book is actually third in the series of Nathalia Buttface books. However they are completely standalone and you do not need to have read the previous books to enjoy or understand this one. If I were to review this from an adult point of view, I would say that its very girlie and quite often annoying. To be honest, Nathalia herself is annoying and her parents, friends, school life etc. are very much like the tv I used to watch as a kid. HOWEVER as a kid, this is exactly what you want to read and my ten year old daughter genuinely enjoyed this book. In fact, the first two are on her Christmas List now and the fourth is released in January which I’m sure some Christmas money will be spent on.

What I will say for the book, is that it has a pretty good storyline and plot. It is a little predictable, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nathalia is annoying (I think she’s meant to be), her friends ground her (somewhat) and ultimately despite the rocky road she takes to get there, the book has a nice outcome and actually a pretty good moral to the story. Nathalia’s parents are very much your average parents, especially from a kids point of view and the plot features many modern references like the concept of the internet, YouTube etc. All round if you have young girls, I think they would enjoy it as a book. The language is simple and yet fun – a lighthearted read that’s perfect for your young ladies.

Wednesday Wishlist – Disney Style Books

Book Review – Nathalia Buttface by Nigel Smith